1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet sorter provided with plural storage bin means into which sorted sheets are and supplied thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is known an apparatus provided with plural bins wherein sheets discharged from a recording apparatus such as a copier are sorted in the plural bins. Such an apparatus is referred to as a sorter hereinafter.
Among such sorters there is known an apparatus capable of operating in a mode in which sheets are stored in a bin and are then switched to another bin when a predetermined number of sheets are stored.
However such an apparatus is subjected to failures such as breakage of bins due to excessive weight of large-sized sheets, since the apparatus has to handle sheets of various sizes which have different weights.
Also in a sorter in which sheet storage into plural bins is achieved by the movement thereof, the increasing weight of sheets on the bin may hinder smooth bin movement, eventually disturbing exact sheet storage.
Besides such an apparatus cannot be connected in plural stages, and is therefore unable to sort a large amount of sheets.
Furthermore, such an apparatus performs sheet sorting only in one direction, so that the bins have to be moved to bring the first bin to the sheet storing position each time a single job, for example copy preparation from an original document, is completed, thus requiring a long time for sheet sorting.
Furthermore, in such an apparatus, even after the last one of a series of sheets discharged in a single job, for example copy preparation from an original document, is stored in a bin, the bins are moved in the sorting direction, thus requiring an unnecessary bin movement before shifting to a succeeding job.